48 • 4 WHAT IS ISLAM?and to the seasons. In the Northern Hemisphere the fast is relatively easy to
keep when Ramadan falls in December, but great self-discipline is needed
when it falls in June (as it did in the early 1980s). A Muslim who gets sick or
makes a long trip during Ramadan may put off all or part of the fast until a
more suitable time. Growing children, pregnant women and nursing
mothers, soldiers on duty, and chronically ill Muslims are exempt. Yet
nearly all Muslims who can fast do so, even those who have given up other
outward observances of the faith.Tithing (Zakat)
All Muslims must give a specified share of their income or property to
help provide for the needy. This payment is called zakat, often translated
as "alms," although it began as a tax levied on all adult members of the
umma. In modern times many Muslim countries stopped collecting the
zakat as a tax, but their citizens are still obliged to make equivalent chari¬
table donations. Lately, though, some Muslim governments have gone
back to exacting the tithe. In either case, wealthy and pious Muslims make
additional gifts or bequests to feed the hungry, cure the sick, educate the
young, or shelter the traveler. Many fountains, mosques, schools, and hos¬
pitals have been founded and maintained by a type of endowment called a
waqf (plural: awqaf), which we discuss in a later chapter. In essence, the
fourth pillar of Islam is sharing.
Pilgrimage (Hajj)
The fifth duty is the hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca during the twelfth month
of the Muslim year. All adult Muslims should perform the hajj at least
once in their lives, if they are well enough and can afford to make the jour¬
ney. Each year, from all parts of the world, observant Muslims, their bod¬
ies clad in identical unsewn strips of cloth, converge on Mecca to perform
rites hallowed by the Prophet Muhammad, although some are taken from
earlier Arab practices. These rites include circling the Ka'ba, kissing the
Black Stone set in one of its walls, running between the nearby hills of Safa
and Marwa, stoning a pillar near Mina representing the Devil, sacrificing
sheep there, and assembling on the plain of Arafat. Some of the rites may
have begun as pagan practices, but Muhammad reinterpreted them in
monotheistic terms. Thus Muslims believe that Abraham and Ishmael
found the Black Stone and erected the Ka'ba around it.
Running seven times between Safa and Marwa commemorates Hagar's
frantic quest for water after Abraham had expelled her and Ishmael from